


A Christmas Miracle

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Bookshop Cat, Christmas Miracle, M/M, bookshop au, meet cute, rafael is still an ada, sonny has a bookshop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27833836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: Rafael walks into a bookshop to try and track down some rare items and gets more than he bargained for.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 36
Kudos: 99





	A Christmas Miracle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mgarner1227](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mgarner1227/gifts).



_Your destination is on the left,_ Siri tells Rafael as he walks down the block, head down and chin tucked into his scarf. He stops and looks across the street. There's a narrow building squished between a coffee shop so hipster Rafael is surprised a mustache has not spontaneously sprouted on its picture window and an empty commercial space with a LEASED sign in the window and no further information. He looks up to see the sign. _BOOKS!_ is written in a shaky, child-like hand on a background that mimics the sort of writing pad Rafael remembers using in kindergarten. He's surprised that the sign looks charming in person. The photos on street view just looked dumb. 

He crosses the street and enters, making sure the door latches behind him before he peels off his scarf and takes off his beanie. He stomps his boots on the welcome mat to shake off the ice and salt that's accumulated. He's got his parka halfway unzipped when a sleek tan and gray tabby with a completely unexpected fluffy tail suddenly jumps down from a bookshelf and lands daintily just on the other side of the mat. 

The cat looks up, blinks, and then lets out a yowl that makes Rafael jump in surprise. 

"Yes, thank you, CK," a man says from somewhere in the depths of the narrow but long shop, "I heard the bell."

The cat keeps staring at Rafael, then throws itself up on its back haunches and paws the air, clearly demanding pets. Rafael grins as he holds out a hand for the cat to sniff. The cat sniffs him once, then grabs his hands between its paws, dragging Rafael's hand forward until it's resting on its head. Rafael chuckles and gives the demanded head scratch as he hears footsteps coming from somewhere to his right. 

"Sorry about him. He's an idiot."

Rafael gives the cat one final scotch, then turns to face the clerk. The clerk's taller than Rafael, but not by more than a few inches. He's narrower, though, seemingly all arms and legs. He's got two novels in one hand and is using the other to push his hair off his forehead. His eyes are blue, and his hair is gray, but if he's a day over forty, Rafael will eat his scarf. He's also wearing a thick, lavender sweater that Rafael covets on sight. 

"He's an excellent alarm system," Rafael says, and wow, the clerk's got a nice smile. 

"Well, as long as you don't want to rob the place, yes. Odds are, he'd just demand ear scritches from whoever broke into the place, then go right back to sleep."

"Good help is hard to find," Rafael replies. 

The man's smile gets wider. "Don't I know it." He shifts the novels to his left hand so he can hold out his right. "I'm Sonny. What can I help you with?"

"Rafael," Rafael replies, shaking his hand. "I'm on the hunt for some rare children's books, and a friend said you may have what I need."

Sonny gives Rafael a sharp look, and Rafael feels like he's been x-rayed. "Your name is ringing a bell. Did Mike send you?"

"I call him Sergeant Dodds, but yes," Rafael replies. 

"Right. Okay. I remember now. You're the ADA that works with SVU."

Rafael makes a small, sweeping gesture with his hands. "That's me." 

Sonny nods and gestures Rafael over to the counter tucked into the corner next to the picture window. The window seat, Rafael notes, is loaded up with pillows and a blanket and a small shelf of clearly loved books. "You're tracking down children's books from Cuba," Sonny says as he steps behind the counter. 

"Yeah," Rafael replies. "Specifically, anything from before 1959."

"Okay, let me check," Sonny says, waking up the laptop on the counter. He rolls his eyes when the computer beeps at him, then ducks down under the counter for a moment before popping back up. "The wi-fi gets pissy when it's windy like this, so it's gonna need a minute for the router to restart. We've got coffee and tea at the back if you want to grab something warm to drink."

"That would be great," Rafael says, and he's surprised when Sonny steps out from behind the counter to lead him to the drinks. "Do you not have a barista?"

Sonny laughs. "No way. I considered it at one point, but then the coffee shop next door got announced, and I dropped the idea. I just keep some basics stocked for customers who aren't looking for the fancy drink experience they offer next door." 

Rafael snorts when he sees the round table that holds the coffee and tea options. There's regular and decaf coffee, each in a sparkling clean carafe and several options in terms of sweeteners and creamers. There's a third carafe of hot water, and on either side of it, two repurposed Easter baskets each nearly overflowing with teabags and a hand-lettered sign on the front of one labeling it as the caffeinated options. In a half-circle in front of all the drinks, there's a collection of mismatched, well-loved mugs. There's a small wastebasket and a bussing bin tucked under the table, and Rafael can see evidence that a few people have already helped themselves to something warm today. "If this is your idea of a basic stock, I'm curious what you consider fancy," Rafael says. 

"Well, fancy would be homemade pastries, but I didn't have time this week to make any," Sonny says. He gestures for Rafael to take his pick of mugs and beverages. 

Rafael picks up a mug stamped with FORDHAM BUSINESS and pours himself a cup of regular coffee. "Homemade? Doesn't that violate food safety laws?"

Sonny drops a tea bag into an empty mug and pours hot water over it. "If I was selling them, yes it would, Mr. ADA."

"Barba," Rafael says, the slow building charm of this man hitting him just right at the way he's just been lightly snarked at. "Rafael Barba."

Sonny grins at him. "Carisi. Dominick Carisi, Jr., in fact."

"But you prefer Sonny."

"I do."

Rafael takes a sip of his coffee. "It suits you," he says.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot," Sonny replies, but there's a telling blush on his cheeks, like he's pleased Rafael's said something about it. 

Sonny leads the way back to the front of the store and tries his computer again. "Okay, the Wi-Fi's cooperating this time," he says. "Do you have some titles or authors you need me to check?"

Rafael reaches into his pocket and unfolds the piece of paper with the titles his _Abuelita_ had remembered. "Any of these would be great."

"They're a gift, then," Sonny says. 

Rafael nods. "For my _Abuela_ for Christmas."

"Bringing back family memories?"

"Not for me," Rafael says, taking another sip of coffee. "They're all books she remembers reading when she was a girl in Cuba before the overthrow by the military in 1952."

Sonny pauses in his typing and looks at Rafael like he's said something important. "That's an amazing gift," he says. "Has she had copies since she was a girl?"

"Once. When my mother was young, she managed to find copies of a couple somewhere, but they…" Rafael waves a hand in the air. 

"Books are oddly mortal, sometimes," Sonny says. "You swear up and down it's on that shelf where you left it, and you're certain it'll always be on that shelf, but then one day, you go to read it, and...it's gone."

"An astute metaphor," Rafael says. 

"Well, I read sometimes," Sonny replies, looking like he's half a second away from winking at his own joke. His computer beeps, and he looks at it. "Oh, hey, great news! I've got _Cuentos de Apolo_ and _Romancero de la maestrilla_. Looks like I don't have _Niña y el viento de mañana_ here, but only because I loaned it to another shop for an exhibit, so it should be easy to get back."

"I'll take all three," Rafael says. He glances upwards at the aisle labels above the shelves. "Which aisle do I need?"

"Oh, they're not shelved," Sonny says. "Not on the floor, anyway. I got them from an estate sale, and there must have been something special about them when I looked them over, so they're upstairs."

"Special? Like collectible?"

"No," Sonny answers, meeting Rafael's questioning gaze. "More like there was something about them that felt important to me, so I tucked them away until I felt like the right person was looking for them."

Rafael swallows a scoff. Sonny's face is open and sincere. He feels like a better person just looking at him. "And that's me, then?"

"You're tracking down the books your grandmother remembers from her childhood. So, yeah, I think you are." Sonny's gaze stays steady with Rafael's for another moment. "I'll be right back with the two I have," he says.

Rafael watches him walk away, then looks around the store as he waits for him to come back. CK appears at Rafael's feet, and bumps his legs with his head before he hops onto the window seat and curls up on the blanket in the middle of a patch of sun. 

Sonny comes down the center aisle of the shop, a book open his hand. He flashes Rafael a quick smile. "I remember why I put these upstairs. They belonged to a little girl at one point, and she'd written her feelings about the books in each of them. That's why I couldn't shelve them out here. I wanted to feel like they were going somewhere they'd be as loved as much as she'd loved them." He hands the book to Rafael. "Look. I bet your grandma will get a kick out of what she wrote."

Rafael stares at the handwriting for a long moment, certain his eyes are playing tricks. But he knows his _Abuelita's_ penmanship as well as his own, and he would know the precise angles on her slanted a's in his sleep. 

_My name is Catalina, and this is my third-favorite book. My favorite thing about it…_

"Rafael?" Sonny asks. "You okay?"

Rafael touches his fingers to his grandmother's name. "You said all three books have this? The reviews?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can show you the one in this one, too, and I'm sure the third one has one, too. That's why I lent it out. My friend was trying to encourage kids to write reviews of their favorite books and thought it'd be a fun visual."

Rafael looks up into Sonny's kind eyes and can't speak for a moment. "This is my grandmother," he says so softly he can barely hear himself. "These were--these were hers. This is her handwriting."

Sonny looks shocked, then surprised, and then absolutely, bone-deep gleeful. "Are you serious?! Holy shit!" He throws out his arms, but pauses. "Sorry. We don't have to--"

Rafael dives into the hug because he doesn't know what else to do. He blinks away the tears in his eyes and clears his throat before tipping his chin up so he can be sure Sonny can hear him speak. "She went into a care home this year. My mother wanted to keep taking care of her, but it was a six-story walk-up in the Bronx, and my mother works 12-hour days because she's devoted to her students, so I played the bad guy and guilted my _Abuela_ into moving into a care home. She's...she's doing fine, but she also hates it sometimes, and she was complaining that she felt like a child, and I thought I could make her laugh if I could track down books she remembered from when she _was_ , and…"

Sonny hugs Rafael tightly. "This is amazing," he says quietly. "Not just that they're her books, but that you found them while you were just trying to make her laugh. That's...that's a miracle."

Rafael shakes his head, wanting to disagree, but the words won't come. He drops his arms and takes a step back, grateful when Sonny follows suit. "I--"

"No charge on the books," Sonny says. "It wouldn't be right."

"That's not fair--"

"They're your grandmother's books, and they should go back to her. You don't charge someone for their own books." Sonny points at Rafael as Rafael opens his mouth to argue again. "But, I would agree to a barter."

Rafael feels a smile slide across his face. "A barter?"

"Your grandmother's books in exchange for a meal. Lunch or dinner. Your choice. You can pay."

Rafael eyes Sonny, reading something promising and hopeful in his eyes. "A date?"

"Yeah, a date." 

Rafael nods slowly, feeling the lovingly worn cover of his grandmother's book in his hands. A book this man has found for him. A book this man kept along with the others just waiting for the right person to come looking. "Okay," he says. "A date."

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for mgarner, who has betaed more fics for me than anyone, I think, and who has DEFINITELY betaed more SVU fics for me than anyone. 
> 
> This is my 300th SVU fic, and I had to make it Barisi. It's the pairing that got me writing SVU on the regular, and it's the pairing that led me to find so many lovely people I consider dear friends. 
> 
> [Couple of notes: 1) The books I mention here were listed on wikipedia as beloved children's books in Cuba from before 1952; I know nothing more about them than that. 2) I couldn't get this detail into the story, but the sign was designed by Mia when she was five, and it's her handwriting. Sonny asked her what she would call a bookstore, and she said, "BOOKS!", then wrote it exactly like that.]


End file.
